Meet the Broker: Alec Waluschka

Today we meet Alec Waluschka, direct and interactive media broker at Dunn DataCo, the reincarnation of the former Mal Dunn Associates Inc.

Waluschka researches and recommends lists and other media for clients in the publishing, education, business opportunities and financial services markets. His current brokerage clients include Bloomfield Investment Group and National Collector’s Mint Inc.

Waluschka began his brokerage career in 1997 at Mal Dunn (recently renamed Dunn DataCo as part of a Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization.) Before he got into the list business Waluschka did fundraising work for an environmental organization.

Like most brokers Waluschka deals primarily with postal lists, but he’s anticipating that online media will increasingly create more opportunities to work with clients doing multichannel marketing.

“I have worked with clients on pop up ads, search engine optimization and search engine marketing, but the interactive work I’ve done mostly involves e-mail,” says Waluschka.

Technology changes marketing, but the appeal of looking at printed catalogs remains as strong as ever, which is why he believes postal list brokerage has future in the Internet world and multi-channel marketing.

“Postal list brokerage is not going to go away,” he adds.

Still, he’s intrigued that companies are experimenting with placing ads inside video games, increasing numbers of people accessing the Internet with cell phones and how he sees the Internet as beginning to take over television.

“It’s intriguing because that’s where marketing is headed,” he says.

Besides his full time list brokerage work, Waluschka writes and produces music tracks for low budget films and commercials as a part-time sideline.

Music and playing video games are his passions outside of work. Waluschka enjoys listening to all kinds of live music. “I like everything from jazz to heavy rock to reggae and everything in between,” he says.

What should a broker do when a client asks about something they don’t know?

“Nobody wants to be in that situation, because if you tell a client you don’t know something you’ll lose the sale, says Waluschka. You have to be able to adjust quickly to a client’s needs.”

The first thing to do is pick the client’s brain by asking lots of questions, even if it gets to the point of being annoying. The objective is to learn exactly what the client needs.

If it involves an unfamiliar market, the next thing to do is find out who are all the largest players in that sector, get some of them on the phone and start asking them questions.

“I tell them I have some potential business and I need their input and that a conversation might help them too. People are very willing to share information,” adds Waluschka.

“It puts me a position to learn something new. Brokers are challenged like this on daily basis and that’s definitely not a drag.”

How much impact have Web site registrations had on list data?

Marketers are seeking greater list selectivity and access to more precise lifestyle data on hobbies and other interests sourced from the Internet.

It means going deeper than finding homeowners, knowing how old someone is and the products they purchased, according to Waluschka.

“It’s information you couldn’t get before that can be determined based on Web site registrations. There’s a lot more data available on lists,” he adds.

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